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She is beautiful, yet inscrutable; enigmatic but a ruthless Queen who ruled Yamatai thousands of years ago with the support of her Stormguard. She surrounds herself with the Priestesses of the Sun with no men attending her. She is believed to be able to communicate with the spiritual world and to control the sun and the rain. She is worshiped by some of the inhabitants of the island, but appears to be more than a Queen to them.

Despite the centuries-long Yamatai rule, Himiko is the first and last queen of the island, as her soul is passed through generations. Himiko identifies and chooses to "adopt" certain suitable females in different communities to live with her in luxury, dubbing them "Daughters of the Sun", never to want for anything again. This is considered the greatest of honors, which will raise the chosen family to the height of Yamatai society. However, there is a sinister twist. While overtly the ritual at first appears to be a transfer of the Sun Queen's storm-shaping powers to her successor, it is, in fact, a transfer of her soul. When the Sun Queen has grown old, one of the girls will be chosen to participate in a ceremony, where the Queen's soul will be transferred into the chosen priestess, therefore extending the Queen's lifespan and rule. In doing so, the soul of the girl will be destroyed.

After many such transference rituals through many lifetimes, this was to come to an end. At some point during the Kamakura period(c. 1185-1333 CE) the queen had chosen a girl named Hoshi to become a Daughter of the Sun, which elevated her above all others in the Sun Queen's court. She studied languages, etiquette, history and warfare. However, Hoshi felt that something was wrong; being doted on by the Queen felt false, as though participating in a performance. She then became the Sun Queen's favorite, seen as a doll by the Queen, and Hoshi found that when the Queen gazed upon her features, she looked as though she was looking at a reflection.

She was chosen to be the Sun Queen's successor. However, Hoshi had discovered what the ceremony would do to her. She found that the ritual would make her own mind disappear, replacing her completely with the Sun Queen's soul. Furthermore, she had discovered that the Queen had plans to bring fire to the lands and oceans of the world, using the armies of Yamatai and her ability to summon and control powerful storms. So, believing she would act for the sake of peaceful Yamatai and all the priestesses that would follow her, in her robes she hid a dagger stolen from the Stormguard General, and with the blade, she took her own life during the ritual.

With the ritual corrupted by Hoshi's death, the Sun Queen's soul exists trapped a half life in Hoshi's decaying body, from ancient times until the present day. Her unearthly rage manifests in raging storms in the vicinity of the islands, wrecking any craft that come near and trapping the survivors on the islands forever with the storms which will never abate while her soul is tied to this earth.

Mathias arrived to the island by his plane being caught in the Sun Queen's storm, causing it to crash land on the island of Yamatai. He and his men tried numerous times to escape, however, all attempts failed. Mathias, seeing that they could not escape and knowing there was something more about the storms, did not participate in the last attempt of escaping by boat, which killed his men, leaving him alone.

Wanting to unlock the power of the island, he craved to understand it and searched for the secrets around the island, discovering pieces of the truth, while avoiding any other survivors that came to the island and killing them if they got in his way. But he soon found that he may need help, so began gathering loyal followers, forming them into a band of cultists bent to the twisted worship of the Sun Queen, though with no intent to share what true power he may discover. Thus was formed the Solarii Brotherhood.

Believing the Sun Queen was guiding him, he has searched for a suitable girl that will allow him to complete the ritual and finally allow his escape, calling such a female "The Key". His search has been fruitless until now.

The Endurance was another victim of the Sun Queen's raging storm. Aboard the ship was a descendant of Yamatai, Samantha Nishimura. She was the Documentary Producer/Translator of the Endurance's expedition.

Mathias located Sam, as well as encountered Lara Croft at the same campsite. Tending to her injuries and listening to her stories of Sun Queen and the Stormguard, Mathias realized that she was a descendant of the Sun Queen and the key to her reincarnation, and his escape. As Lara fell asleep at the campsite, Mathias kidnapped Sam and took her to the Solarii base. Later, once Lara had rescued Sam, he killed Conrad Roth, Lara's mentor and father figure. Upon the second kidnapping of Sam, he played James Whitman's ego against him to distract a pair of Oni, allowing him to slip into the Monastery with Sam, and ultimately causing Whitman's death. There, he started to perform the ritual to transfer the Sun Queen's soul into Sam's body, believing that the ritual was the key to appeasing the Sun Queen who would allow him to escape the island.

While the Sun Queen was still in the process of "pouring" her soul into Sam's body, Lara was able to make her way through Mathias' Solarii Brotherhood, Himiko's own Stormguard, and finally to Mathias. Lara walked in-between her best friend and the Sun Queen, stabbing the latter's decaying body in the heart with a flaming torch, interrupting the ritual leaving it incomplete. The storms surrounding Yamatai began to disperse and disappear, which allowed the survivors of the Endurance to escape, bringing a permanent end to Himiko's reign.

However this was not the end of Himiko. She still managed to latch, at least a small part of her soul to Sam and live on within her, causing her to be violent, and to have blackout periods, even. As a result, Sam is arrested for assault, and placed in a mental ward.

After Sam is transferred to Halburh Institute in Sweden, she apparently reverted to some degree of normalcy, even making friends with a nurse, however, Trinity took over the institute and put Sam in the care of Dr Taffe, who seemingly cause Sam to take a turn for the worst, allowing Himiko to start exerting greater control over Sam's body, this came to a head one night when Sam escaped the asylum, killing a nurse in the process.

Whilst in Germany, Himiko realised that she was probably drawing attention, which would lead to Lara picking up her trail. Since Lara had already once succeeded in stopping her gaining full control of Sam, she would likely try again in order to save her friend. She sent out scouts to hunt for her, when her suspicions were confirmed, she ordered them to follow and kill Lara.

Witchcraft: She has been described by legend to be highly skilled at witchcraft.

Essence Transference Ritual: Through her soul transference ritual, Himiko had learned to bind her own soul to other bodies, effectively allowing her to start a new life in anew body.

Pyrokinesis: She also possessed pyrokinesis, which was seen when she caused Icy mountains to have fire. Legends also describes her producing fire.

Atmokinesis: She has powerful atmokinesis, by which she uses the weather & lighting to slay her targets. She even caused there to be huge storms around Yamatai, despite her being trapped in a decayed body. Her storms were so powerful that no one could leave the island, unless they destroy her or they die.

Telepathy: She may have minor telepathic power, as Mathias stated that he is mentally connected to her.

Cursing: She was able to curse her Stormguard, turning them into undead warriors, with improved physical prowess. She even cursed the island of Yamatai, so that no one can leave, unless they die or she dies. However, when she dies the curse is lifted, thereby showcasing that the curse on the Stormguard & the Island is tied to her existence.

Omnipresence: Himiko appears to be aware of everything that happens on and around the island.

Intimidation: A combination of her ruthlessness and supernatural powers made everyone fear her.

Leadership: She has led Yamatai for a significant amount of years before being trapped in a decaying body.

While she does not appear physically until the very end of the game, Himiko could be considered the true antagonist of the game as she is the cause of the storms and the reason the Endurance crew is stranded on the island. Also, every inhabitant on the island (apart from the Endurance crew) reveres and serves Himiko, whether it is the Solarii Brotherhood, the Stormguard or the weather itself. Throughout the game, Mathias claims that Himiko speaks through him and that he is her loyal servant.

Himiko means “sun child” or “sun priestess” in archaic Japanese.

The Sun Queen may come from Himiko or Pimiko, who was an obscure shaman queen of Yamataikoku in ancient Wa (Japan). She occupied herself with magic and sorcery, bewitching the people. Though mature in age, she remained unmarried. She had a younger brother who assisted her in ruling the country. After she became the ruler, there were few who saw her. She had one thousand women as attendants, but only one man, similar to Himiko in the game who was only attended by her priestesses and her stormguard general.